galloway



(No Model) I .2'sheet s speet 1. W. A.G A LLOW'AY 8a A. Z. SMITH. CORN HARVESTER.

No. 6015248. P-atentd Mar. 29,1898.

.(No Model.) I 2 Sheets -Sheet W. A. GALLOW AY & A..Z. SMITH.

G'ORN- HARVESTER.

No. 601,248. Patented Mar. 29,1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. GALLOWAY AND ALFRED Z. SMITH, OF XENIA, OHIO; SAID SMITIIASSIGNOR TO SAID GALLOWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601,248, dated March 29, 1898.

Application filed September 10, 1895. Serial No. 562,080. (No model.)

v To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM A. GALLO- WAY and ALFRED Z. SMITH, citizens of the United States, residing at Xenia,in the county of Greene, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corn- Harvesters; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to corn-harvesters in general, and more particularly to that class intended for harvesting corn, cane, &c. ,whether employed in connection with a binder or not, though in practice it has been found to be more economical to both reap and bind with a single machine.

One object of our invention is to raise fallen corn in order that it may be cut at the proper point above its roots and thus insure the harvesting of the full crop. Moreover, when in an inclined position the stalk is much more difficult to cut.

A further object of our invention is to treat the stalks before they are acted upon by the cutter-knives in such a manner that the latter may readily cut the stalks. To accomplish this latter object,'we arrange in front of and in such positions as will crush the stalks at the points of engagement of the cutter knives crushing-rolls, which may be provided with milled edges to facilitate their operation.

As will be readily understood, the nature of a cornstalk is such that it is splintered or crushed both above and below the points of engagement of the crushing means to a sufficient extent to allow the ready cutting of the stalk by engagement of the cutters above and below the actual point of engagement of the crushing mechanism, as well as where thus engaged.

Referring now to the drawings,in which like symbols .of reference indicate similar parts in theseveral views, Figure 1 is a plan view of a harvester-frame provided with our improved mechanism for erecting and cutting the cornstalks, said frame having also the usual elevating-chains arranged to convey the cut stalks to the binder mechanism. Fig. 2

is a side view taken at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of a pickerwheel having adjustable fingers.

Referring now to the drawings, 5 is the usual harvester, upon which is mounted in suitable bearings the drive-shaft 6, having connection through the medium of a crank-disk 7, pitman 8, and slide-bar 9 with a reciprocatory knife 10, said bar 9 being adapted to slide in suitable ways in the front portion of the frame, as indicated at 8 and 9. This knife is preferably triangular in form,as shown, and works in conjunction with the blades 11 and 12 of a fixed knife secured to the adjacent portion of the frame.

In order to cause engagement of the knives 11 and 12 and 10 and the stalks of a row of corn, we have provided certain means for first raising slightly such stalks as may lie against the ground, then further raising such stalks and such stalks as may be at an angle to the ground, and then maintaining the upright position of the stalks and afterward altering their structure by crushing in such manner that they may be more readily out by the knives. To accomplish this purpose, beams 13 and 14 are pivotally connected with the frame 5 in such manner that they may have independent vertical movement relative to each other andto the frame, the outer end of each beam being supported by a pivoted caster-wheel 15.

To the front end of each beam 13 and 14' and projecting downwardly and forwardly therefrom to enter beneath fallen stalks is attached a snout 16 and 17, respectively, of the usual construction, which snouts raise the fallen corn to a position to be engaged by the picker-wheels 18 and 19, which latter are provided with inwardly-curved fingers and are journaled in suitable hearings .on the inner sides of the beams 13 and 14. These pickerwheels have a parallel arrangement and are positioned so far apart as to allow the passage of a row of corn between their adjacent faces, the fingers 20 thereon being turned inwardly to an extent to lift the fallen corn to an upright position. The extent of inward movement of these fingers, it will be readily understood, will depend upon the condition of the corn operated uponthat is, the direction in which the fallen corn liessaid fingers being adjustably secured in place to e11- able this adjustment, as will be more readily appreciated when referred to later.

Secured to the beams 13 and 14 are forward uprights 21 and and rearward uprights 23 and El, respectively, said uprights having journaled thereon sprocket-wheels carrying chains 25 and 226, which run in paths over the beams 13 and 14-. The chains over each beam are disposed parallel and the sprocket-chains are so fixed that they maybe readilyadjusted on their respective uprights to raise or lower the chains in accordance with the height of the corn operated upon, the object of said chains, which are provided with outwardly-projecting fingers 27, being to catch the cornstalks operated upon after they are erected by the snouts and picker-wheels and maintain such erect positions while theyare passing through the crushing mechanism to the knives and backward onto the receivingtable behind the knives. The uprights above mentioned each have a rearward incline, as will be noted, so that the lower chains will first release the corn and subsequently the upper chains, which latter will carry the corn and will tilt it onto the table.

To revolve the picker-wheels 18 and 19, the rearward extensions of their respective shafts are provided with sprocket-wheels 2i" and 29, respectively, carrying chains extending rearwardly and passing over sprocket-wheels on a driveshaft 29, which said shaft is energized from the traction-wheels of the machine through any desired mechanism or from any other source of power.

It will be readily understood that we may employ shafts and miter-gearin g in the place of the chains without departing in any way from the spirit of our invention. Motion is contributed to the chains 25 and 20 from the shaft 29 through the medium of bevel-gears 30 and 31, which engage similar gears on the standards 23 and 21-, which are journa-led in suitable bearings on the beams 13 and 14.

Intermediate the rear extensions of the picker-wheels 1S and 19 and the knives 10, 11, and 12 is arranged mechanism for crushing or otherwise altering the structure of the corn at the point of cutting, which alteration may, however, extend above and below said point. Vhile we have used the term crushing both in the specification and claims as descriptive of the treatment of the stalk before cutting, the operation of the mechanism employed by us is not necessarily a crushing operation, for, as will be readily understood, we may employ mechanism for beating the stalk in order to split it orany other means for macerating, masticating, or reducing in any way the resistance of the stalk to the cutter-knives by alteringits structure. To accomplish this, we may employ rolls and 3-3, pivoted in suitable journals to revolve in a common horizontal plane, the adjacent points of their peripheries being so close as to crush the cornstalks previous to the cutting operation, so that the knives may readily accomplish their purpose. Both rolls may be positively driven or one roll maybe arranged as an idler, as shown, and the other roll be driven positively through the medium of a sprocketchain leading from the shaft 29 and passing over a sprocket-wheel on a shaft 31-, having a bevel-gear engaging with a similar gear on the roll or its shaft. To facilitate the operation of these rolls, their peripheries may be milled, as shown, and to insure the ready passage of the corn between them they maybe provided with fingers 35, curved backwardly, which act upon the cornstalks and carry them between the contiguous portions of the peripheries of the rolls.

It will be understood that, if desired, disk cutters or any other suitable form of cutters maybe employed instead of the knives herein shown, which said knives merely indicate one arrangement, our invention being the em ployment of crushing mechanism arranged to operate before or simultaneously with the cutting mechanism.

It being desirable at times to vary the pitch of each finger of the picker-wheel and also the distance of its tip from the center of the wheel, as hereinbeforc intimated, we have provided a construction (illustrated in Fig. 4: of the drawings) which readily allows of this manipulation. In this construction 40 represents a wheel having on one face a projection 41, provided with preferably equidistant perforations adapted to receive the shanks of a series of fingers 42, so that they maybe readily adjusted back and forth, as well as rotated. In order to clamp these fingers in their adjusted positions, a clamp 43 is held against the fingers through the medium of bolts 44, passed through suitable perforations in the wheel, said ring clamping the fingers in their respective positions firmly against the wheel 40.

It will be readily understood that the particular mechanism herein shown may be varied without departing in any way from the spirit of our invention, such mechanism simply indicating a single embodiment of each feature thereof.

Vhile we have claimed,in combination with the cutting mechanism, a chain for passing the material to the cutting mechanism and picker-wheels operated in substantially vertical planes, it will be readily understood that this specification of the arrangement of said picker-wheels is intended to distinguish them from a horizontal arrangement, as well as any other position in which they would be capable of performing the function incident to the combination expressed in said claim.

Having now described our invention, what we claim is- 1. In a harvester, the combination with the cutting mechanism of crushing mechanism arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to crush the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting, previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism.

2. In a harvester, the combination with cutting mechanism of crushing mechanism arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to engage the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting and to crush it previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism.

3. In a harvester, the combination with cutting mechanism of crushing-rolls arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to crush the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting, previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism.

4:. In aharvester, the combination with cutting mechanism of crushing-rolls arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to engage the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting, and crush it previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism.

5. In a harvester, thecombination with cutting mechanism of crushing-rolls arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to crush the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism, said rolls being arranged to move with the harvester transversely of said material.

6. In a harvester, the combination with cut ting mechanism of corrugated crushing-rolls arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to crush the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting, previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism.

7. In a corn-harvester,the combination with cutting mechanism of corrugated crushing mechanism arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to crush the material to be operated upon at the point of cutting previous to the engagement of the cutting mechanism.

8. In a device of the class described,a pickerwheel having bent fingers pivoted thereto and a clamp adapted to clamp said fingers rigid.

9. In a device of the class described,a pickerarranged to engage the material to be operated upon and pass it to the cutting mechanism,picker-Whee1s extending below the chains and operating in substantially vertical planes,

to erect the material and pass it to the chain and inclined snouts arranged in advance of the picker-wheels to give the said substance an initial movement from a reclining position to be engaged by the picker-wheels.

11. In a corn-harvester, the combination with the cutting mechanism of means arranged in advance of the cutting mechanism to reduce the'resistance of the material at the point of engagement of the cutting mechanism and feed the material in the direction of the cutting mechanism.

12. In a corn-harvester, the combination with the cutting mechanism of mechanism having additional motion to the ground motion of the harvester and operating to alter the structure of the material operated upon at the point of engagement of the cutting mechanism, said mechanism gripping and feeding the material against the ground motion of the harvester.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. GALLOWAY. ALFRED Z. SMITH.

Witnesses as to signature of William A. Galloway:

J. A. SAUL, D. G. DAVIS. Witnesses as to signature of Alfred Z. Smith:

M. J. HARTLEY, O. O. HEMIE. 

